1 Exit checks
Collecting data at the UK border
1. In 1998, the previous government abolished exit
checks, paper-based embarkation records of passengers departing
from the UK, because they were too resource intensive. Mike O'Brien
MP, the then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Home
Office, explained that in 1997, 7 per cent of the Immigration
Service's operational duties were deployed on embarkation controls,
compared with 11 per cent on asylum-related work, and embarkation
control staffing was estimated to cost over £3 million.[1]
Those universal exit checks were replaced by an intelligence-led
approach, using CCTV and greater liaison between border agencies,
port operators and transport carriers. This approach was subsequently
superseded by the ill-fated e-Borders programme, announced in
February 2005.[2] Our predecessor
Committee welcomed that proposal:
We understand that the introduction of e-Borders
will effectively mean the reintroduction of embarkation controls.
We welcome this development and urge its swift and effective completion.
While raising questions as to the aims of the programme:
However, the Government must also have a clear
strategy for acting on the information collected. Firstly, it
must be used in subsequent applications: even scanning the passport
so that the database shows the person had left and on time would
be immensely valuable to anyone deciding a subsequent application.
Secondly, it must be used to identify those who entered the country
legitimately but have overstayed their visa without attempting
to regularise their position.[3]
2. Importantly, e-Borders would enable the biometric
data held in someone's passport to be collected and provided to
the National Border Targeting Centre,[4]
where it could be checked against databases such as the Home Office
Warnings Index. It could also provide certainty about whether
or not visa holders have left the UK. The e-Borders programme
has stalled. Sir Charles Montgomery, Director General, Border
Force, told us in March 2014 that the e-Borders programme had
been "terminated", and the Home Office would be replacing
individual systems, such as the Warnings Index and Semaphore separately.
This would take place before the general election.[5]
3. At the moment, data for air passengers travelling
in and out of the UK is sourced from carrier lists, known as Advanced
Passenger Information (API). Air passengers buy tickets in advance
and check in a reasonable time before departure, so API coverage
is good, about 80% and increasing, for passengers leaving the
UK by air.[6] Coverage
is not so good for rail and ferry passengers, partly because of
the ticketing systems and partly because customers can decide
to travel, buy a ticket and have checked in at a time near to
departure. Consequently, there is no API from rail passengers
and only 20% API from maritime passengers coming in to the UK.[7]
To deliver exit checks, the Home Office needs to find a mechanism
that can count all of the rail and maritime passengers as they
depart the UK by the end of March.
EXIT CHECKS AT DOVER AND FOLKESTONE
4. Sir Charles Montgomery, Director General of the
Border Force, has assured the Committee previously that "by
31 March [2015], we will be delivering 100% exit checks."[8]
James Brokenshire, Minister for Immigration and Security, repeated
this in November, and wanted to make sure there would be a mechanism
which gave "advance passenger information or gives us the
passport details that are taken at point of exit". He said
this would provide the Government with better information on "who
is leaving the country, to inform our work around over-stayers
and elsewhere."[9]
5. Eurotunnel carries about 10 million passengers
on the Shuttle and 10 million passengers via Eurostar across the
channel every year.[10]
Ferries carry between 12 and 13 million people to and from Dover.[11]
John Keefe, Director of Public Affairs, Eurotunnel, told us that
while passengers leaving the UK are subject to French passport
control, none of the ten million that leave the UK using the Shuttle
through Folkestone are currently subject to exit checks.[12]
Tim Reardon, Head of Taxation, Ferry and Cruise, UK Chamber of
Shipping, said that passengers leaving Dover could have their
passport checked up to three times: once by the French authorities,
once by the UK Border Force but selectively "as they deem
fit", and possibly at check-in "depending on the traffic
stream, depending on the operator".[13]
6. Mr Keefe told us he was concerned about the lack
of a clear specification from the Home Office as to how exit checks
would be introduced, how they will be supervised, what roles and
powers Eurotunnel staff would have, what equipment would be needed,
what data they would collect and where it would be sent. He acknowledged
the need for security of the UK border, but also questioned whether
the potential impact on trade had been fully considered, what
it might mean for traffic congestion and the consequent loss of
earnings of both industry and individuals.[14]
He warned there might not be sufficient time to meet the Government's
timetable:
Given that we only have about five months to
get these [exit] checks into place, to develop the systems, to
procure the equipment, to train the staff, to organise the logistics
of the exercise, a clear specification is something that we have
asked for since the beginning, since the Act was passed.[15]
7. Mr Brokenshire said that the Home Office was working
with Eurotunnel, and the port and ferry operators at Dover, to
make sure exit checks would be in place by April 2015.[16]
And Mr Keefe agreed that Eurotunnel was in discussions with the
Home Office and Border Force to make sure that any exit checks
were as suitable for purpose as possible, but as of November 2014,
"we have some concerns that that is not the case yet".[17]
8. Importantly, Eurotunnel were carrying out trials
to test the systems to be introduced.[18]
The ferry operators were also carrying out trials, testing
various operating models to see how they work in different traffic
streams: foot passengers, car passengers, coach passengers, and
lorry traffic. Mr Reardon said:
The trials should complete in the next few days.
The data from that will then go through a crunching exercise and
conclusions will then be drawn from that. That will inform what
can be done in Dover and, by extension, what can be done in other
ferry ports as well.[19]
9. The Committee has, in successive reports, highlighted
the need for everyone who enters and leaves Britain to be counted
in and counted out. This enables us to know accurately exactly
who is in our country. We note that both the Minister and the
Director General of Border Force have assured this Committee that
100% exit checks will be in place by 31st March 2015. We hope
that they can deliver this, and expect them to inform the Committee
urgently if this no longer looks likely, and in particular to
update the Committee on this target before the last scheduled
meeting of this Committee before dissolution.
10. It is very important that the system to carry
out exit checks works efficiently, so that it can meet what are
understood to be the aims of the policy, without introducing unnecessary
queues and delays. Any queues that develop as a result will be
highly visible and could have a serious negative impact on business,
trade and tourism. Transport operators have voiced serious concerns
of the opportunities such delays offer to illegal migrants to
attempt to embark vehicles. The Committee has noted these concerns
and has seen the situation for itself on a visit to Calais. We
will be considering this matter in detail in our next report.
We welcome the trials being carried out in Dover and Folkestone
to ensure any system adopted has been tested as thoroughly as
possible.
11. Exit checks will be carried out by the transport
operators' staff, not Border Force. However, those transport companies
have, for some time, expressed serious doubts that the exit checks
can be put in place according to the Government's timetable, which
will require full exit checks by 1 April 2015. We share these
concerns.
12. The Home Office was wrong to take so long
to respond to the letter of 24 September 2014 sent to it by John
Keefe of Eurotunnel which set out a number of concerns and action
points. The Committee will require a detailed update from the
Home Office by 31 January 2015 so that we can assess whether or
not any further action should be taken.
1 HC Deb 16 March 1998 c506-7W Back
2
Independent Chief Inspector of Immigration and Borders, 'Exporting the border'? An inspection of e-Borders',
October 2013 Back
3
Home Affairs Committee,
Immigration Control, 23 July 2006, HC 775-I, para 448 Back
4
The National Border Targeting Centre was created in March 2010
as part of the Intelligence, Targeting and Watch-listing Command
within the Border Force Intelligence Directorate. Its remit is
to monitor the e-Borders Semaphore system and to alert the relevant
agency where a threat to border security or a passenger of interest
to Police or other law enforcement agency is identified. Back
5
Tobacco smuggling, HC 200, Q 77, 11 March 2014 Back
6
The work of the Border Force, HC 502, Q 86, 22 July 2014 Back
7
The work of the Border Force, HC 502, Q 66, 22 July 2014 Back
8
The work of the Border Force, HC 502, Q 87, 22 July 2014 Back
9
Q 204 Back
10
Q 54 Back
11
Q 63 Back
12
Qq 56-57 Back
13
Q 63 Back
14
Letter from Eurotunnel to Keith Vaz, 24 September
2014 Back
15
Q 51 Back
16
Q 204 Back
17
Q 51 Back
18
Q 53 Back
19
Q 62 Back
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